


a way to say who you are without having to speak

by colazitron



Category: Ed Sheeran (Musician), One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-20
Updated: 2014-11-20
Packaged: 2018-02-26 10:21:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2648477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colazitron/pseuds/colazitron
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To make up for working on Valentine's Day, Ed takes Harry to the Burberry Prorsum show at London Fashion Week Autum/Winter 14. Even if it's his birthday.</p><p>It also happens to be their first public date after they've decided to stop hiding their relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a way to say who you are without having to speak

**Author's Note:**

  * For [samanthajane](https://archiveofourown.org/users/samanthajane/gifts).



Contrary to his expectations, when Ed rolled over and reached out an arm to the other side of the bed on the morning of his twenty-third birthday, he was not met with his boyfriend's sleep-warm skin but empty sheets that have lost all residual body heat. That was definitely not part of Ed's plans for the day. So he blinked and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, albeit reluctantly, and leaned onto his elbows to look for clues explaining his absence. It was so not cool to leave someone in bed and not even leave a note or an explanation _on their birthday_.  
  
"Harry?" he tried saying, but his voice broke halfway through the word making him sound whiny and childish instead of confused and searching, but, like, manly-confused. It wasn't gearing up to be a very good birthday morning. There was no answer, but in the silence that followed, he caught Harry's voice from the bathroom across the hall. He could at least have been making breakfast if he insisted on getting out of bed.  
  
Ed didn't have time to decide whether he should get out of bed himself or roll over and absolutely-not-sulk, because then Harry stepped back into the room, tiny black boxer briefs clinging to his hips and the very tops of his thighs, with a soft grey t-shirt to stave off the cold outside the bed hanging off his considerably broad shoulders. He looked far too delicious and snuggly not be snuggling Ed. The sweet smile that lit up his face when he saw that Ed was awake wasn't doing anything to lessen the perfection of the picture he presented. If Ed felt any less smug about it, he'd probably feel terribly put out by the effect Harry seemed to have on him at all hours of the day, in all states of dress and undress.  
  
"Morning," Harry said and set down his - hang on. His phone?  
  
"Have you been working?" Ed asked, accusation heavy in his voice. There was a very strict no-shop-talk-that-isn't-absolutely-necessary-on-days-off policy in place. Ed would not see it violated. Harry had the audacity to grin.  
  
"No, I made lunch reservations," he said. "I'm taking you out."  
  
"Oh. Lunch? I hope you made them early, cause I've got plans from two on."  
  
"Seriously? Are you working?" Harry asked, trying and failing to keep the disappointment out of his voice and expression.  
  
"God, no," Ed said. "I fought tooth and nail for this day."  
  
He held up one finger to Harry, signalling him to wait and grinning at his bemused confusion, before rolling over and grabbing an envelope from his bedside table. When he turned back around to Harry, he sat up more fully and held out the envelope. Harry sat down on the bed and took it, now even more confused.  
  
"Thought I'd make up for ditching you on Valentine's," Ed said by way of explanation. Harry immediately rolled his eyes at him.  
  
"You didn't ditch me. You told me a week in advance you couldn't get time off."  
  
"Still," Ed said. "It would have been our first date since..."  
  
Since they'd decided to drop any pretense of hiding their relationship from the public. Ed was convinced that even had they been seen out together on Valentine's Day no one safe maybe Sugarscape would have drawn the correct conclusion about them being on a date (and they would've framed it as a joke), but it would have been a fun occasion to stop their hiding game.  
  
Harry grinned at him.  
  
"You're proper soppy," he said. "So what's this then?"  
  
"Well, open it," Ed said. The envelope was the heavy, good quality kind of paper, the surface not entirely smooth. It was slightly larger than standard size as well. The look on Harry's face when he pulled open the flap and took out the single sheet of equally strong paper was almost comical.  
  
"Is this real?" he asked, looking up at Ed with wide eyes.  
  
"Of course it's real, why the bloody hell would I fake that?"  
  
"Well, just... you're taking me to a fashion show? For your birthday?"  
  
"Yeah. It's my birthday so we do what I want. And I want to take you to this fashion thing. Plus, I did wear a Burberry suit once. Multiple times, even."  
  
"You did." Harry smiled and set the invitation down, leaning in for a kiss. "The Gucci fit you better though."  
  
"That how it is then?" Ed said between kisses. "I give an inch and you grab for a mile?"  
  
"Well, I wouldn't say a mile, exactly," Harry said, trailing his mouth down over Ed's jaw and snaking a hand under the duvet to cup Ed's cock through his pyjamas. "But I'll take all your inches."  
  
Ed snorted a laugh and hid his eyes behind a hand. Harry's was cold on him, but still welcome as it kneaded him through the fabric, making his cock fill steadily.  
  
"You're horrible."  
  
"Guess I won't blow you then," Harry said, making as if to draw his hand back.  
  
"I take it back," Ed said, his own hand shooting down to grab Harry's and keep it pressed to his crotch. "You're lovely. Best thing that's ever happened to me."  
  
Harry grinned, pleased as could be, and leaned in for a quick peck to Ed's lips.  
  
"Love you too," he said and then pulled the blanket back for better access. The hand not already occupied came up to push Ed back down against the sheets and his t-shirt up under his armpits, before Harry leaned over him to litter Ed's chest with sucking kisses, seemingly intent on proving Ed's statement. By the time he deigned to pull down Ed's pants, they were sporting a small wet stain at the crotch and Ed couldn't quite keep his hips from stuttering after Harry's touch. There was sweat gathering in his hairline at the back of his neck and his fingers were going back and forth between clutching at the sheets and twitching uselessly, like he couldn't quite extend the control over his muscles that far anymore.  
  
Harry was pulling all the stops; winding him up like a coil until he felt like he was vibrating and backing off again just as Ed felt right at the brink to nose along the top of his thighs and suck a mark into where his skin was stretched tight over his hipbones. One of Ed's hands was wound tightly into the back of Harry's t-shirt now and the other one managed to pet at his hair while Ed was trying to get his breathing back under control.  
  
"You're a menace," he whispered, a tired laugh falling from his lips when Harry nuzzled into his hand and gave his index and middle finger a teasing suck, eyes locked with Ed's. When Harry ducked back down to take his cock into his mouth again, it didn't take long for Ed to feel right back at the brink, the urgency to fall over already humming under his skin. This time when Harry pulled off it was only to deliver languid little kitten licks just underneath the head of Ed's cock, where he knew it drove him crazy.  
  
"Fuck, please, Harry," Ed pressed out, lungs tight and occasionally gasping in breaths. Harry didn't wait to be asked a second time, sucking Ed down hard and fast, head bobbing and lips tight around him. The sudden change went through Ed with a jolt and he barely had time to realise what was happening before he spilled into Harry's mouth with a shout, his body bowing as if to curl up on himself. Harry's strawberry red grin was smug when he crawled up Ed's body again, but his pupils were blown wide in his glassy eyes.  
  
"Fucking hell," Ed breathed when Harry bumped their noses together, making them both laugh.  
  
"Happy birthday," Harry said, voice intimate and blowjob-raspy. Ed's legs were tingling and his heart hadn't quite slowed all the way back down yet, but he tilted his face up to lick the taste of his release from Harry's mouth anyway. Harry hummed into it happily, still as overly fond of kissing as Ed had always known him to be. He was just trying to muster up the energy to manoeuvre Harry underneath him to return the favour, when there was a small sound coming from the door. Harry let out a whine in something approaching the same pitch, before breaking their kiss and laughing into Ed's neck.  
  
"Barely twenty and already getting interrupted by the kids," he mumbled before pushing himself up. "Not quite how I pictured it, I must admit."  
  
"Oh, like you don't spoil him rotten."  
  
"Like you don't either."  
  
"Never said I didn't. But it's my birthday, so it's your turn. I'd like breakfast too, please. And the lunch reservations changed," Ed said, crossing his hands underneath his head.  
  
"Yeah, but I need a shower," Harry said, rocking his hips and hard-on down into Ed. "So you'll have to feed Gray yourself. And get to chopping whatever you want in your fry-up."  
  
"Fine," Ed said, with a faux put upon sigh and pushed himself up to give Harry another albeit shorter kiss and a pat to his naked thighs. "Just be quick about it. Not that that's usually a problem."  
  
"Hey," Harry said, pouting at Ed, but clambering off him to allow him to get up. Ed didn't bother with a reply but opened the door and scooped the small striped kitten up into his arms.  
  
"Morning Graham," he cooed into the soft fur and then lifted his head a bit to call to Harry, "which is his name, by the way," before turning back to the kitten.  
  
"Come on. Harry needs a bit of private time but daddy's going to make you breakfast."  
  
"Don't forget the chopping for the fry-up," Harry called after him. Ed rolled his eyes to himself and set Graham back down when he started wriggling in his arms, following him into the kitchen, where the kitten started mewling and traipsing back and forth between his legs. Why exactly cats seemed to think that kind of behaviour sped anything up was beyond Ed, but he managed to fill Graham's food and water bowls without tripping or stepping on the little, fluffy monster and then watched him eat with a fond smile. There may or may not have been a moment where he jolted out of his kitten-watching, completely unaware of how long exactly he had been doing it, but he hastily grabbed meat and veggies from the fridge and set about getting started on the breakfast preparations. When Harry, hair still damp but dressed, stepped into the kitchen a moment later, Ed made a point of seeming to have been peacefully working all this time, depositing the chopped up mushrooms in a bowl.  
  
"Allow me?" Harry said, sidling up to him and taking the pepper and knife from Ed when he offered them.  
  
"Do feel free."  
  
Harry's chopping was, admittedly, a lot more practiced, so Ed turned back to watching and then petting Graham, letting Harry bustle about the kitchen and hum to himself. Neither of them felt the need to talk and the only sounds in the kitchen were Harry's cooking and humming and Graham's occasionally audible eating. It was the kind of domestic they didn't get to be most of the time, what with both of them jetting all over the world. Here, in Ed's house on a Sunday morning, they got to just be together for a bit and the comfort of having Harry close was one of the things Ed missed most when they were apart. Just Harry's presence right there at the edge of his awareness. It made him feel... warm. Settled. Sure.  
  
Not surprising, really. Home was after all where the heart was, and a part of Ed's was always travelling around with Harry. Instead of telling him something that soppy, Ed simply stroked a hand along the line of Harry's shoulders as he passed him to get the orange juice from the fridge, smiling back at Harry when he turned to smile at him. It was well-established that they loved each other.  
  
"You can sit, I'm almost done," Harry said when Ed set the juice and two glasses on the table.  
  
"D'you want tea?" Ed asked instead, hovering by the table. Harry was pulling plates out of Ed's cupboards and shook his head without turning around.  
  
"Not today, thanks."  
  
So Ed sat and leaned down to pet Graham when he wound between his legs and the legs of the chair before trotting out of the kitchen.  
  
"So, I was thinking," Harry said, setting down their plates on the table before turning to the fridge.  
  
"Always dangerous," Ed quipped, turning around to see what Harry was doing when he didn't sit down with him.  
  
"Shush," Harry said, laughing through it and finally pulling out a little cardboard box that, once he set it down on the table, looked suspiciously like it hailed from Ed's favourite patisserie.  
  
"As I said, I was thinking," Harry continued, pushing the box over to Ed who couldn't quite keep the pleased grin off his face as he reached to open the box.  
  
"There better not be a dick in this box," he said, cutting Harry off once again. Harry barked a laugh and then shook his head.  
  
"I like mine where it is, thanks," he said and then added, when Ed folded the sides of the box down, "It's gâteau au chocolat."  
  
"Thank you," Ed said like it wasn't completely obvious that Harry would get his favourite and took notice of the dessert plates and cake forks he had set on the table for the first time. Ed had to take back his earlier statement. So far it was turning out to be a most delightful birthday.  
  
"Anyway, as I was saying," Harry tried again.  
  
"Yes, you were thinking," Ed said, focussed on cutting the cake.  
  
"We should turn the lunch reservations into dinner reservations since it's already almost eleven and we're just getting started on this slightly large breakfast. We can make it an early one. Even with schmoozing we should be out of the show by five the latest. Or we can just use it as an excuse to get out of the socialising."  
  
"Plus, you still need to get home and fetch something adequate to wear," Ed teased and held out a plate with a piece of cake to him. Harry took the cake and rolled his eyes.  
  
"Well, if you'd told me yesterday I could've brought something over. I can't exactly show up in trackies underneath my coat."  
  
"I'm taking your coat," Ed said, closing his eyes briefly over the first bite of cake.  
  
"You're taking my coat."  
  
"Yeah, it's cold."  
  
"You literally have at least four jackets in your closet," Harry pointed out. Ed shrugged.  
  
"But they're more 'expedition to the Arctic' and less 'London Fashion Week with my handsome boyfriend', don't you think?"  
  
When Ed looked over across the table at Harry he had his brow pulled into a slight frown.  
  
"What?" Ed asked, concerned he'd said something wrong.  
  
"You know I don't care about how you dress, right? You don't have to, like, change anything just cause I'll be holding your hand in public."  
  
"Oh," Ed said and reached for Harry's hand across the table. "No, hey, H, I know that. It's not that, I promise. I just kinda felt like it. I'm not going to... quiff my hair and put on makeup. Just a nice pair of jeans and some dress shoes."  
  
"And my coat."  
  
"It matches my shoes," Ed grinned. "And I like wearing your things."  
  
Harry grinned back.  
  
"I know. Don't think I don't notice that my shirts go missing when you stay over and then show up again in your closet."  
  
"You have a gajillion of those checked shirts. It's not like I'll be making a significant dent in your wardrobe by taking one or two."  
  
"One or two," Harry repeated and snorted in amusement. "I've already found about five and you've not even unpacked properly yet."  
  
"I never unpack properly."  
  
"Not the point."  
  
"No," Ed granted and then grinned wickedly. "The point is that you love when I wear year things, you possessive bastard."  
  
"I do," Harry said with a shrug. "Especially now that I get to show you off."  
  
"I think you've got that backwards," Ed said, dragging his eyes deliberately over Harry's torso. Harry only rolled his eyes.  
  
"I'll write an entire song about how sexy I think you are," he threatened. Ed laughed and scraped up the crumbs from his plate.  
  
"Oh no, anything but that," he said, voice completely deadpan. Harry's wide grin broke open into laughter and Ed ducked his head a little and grinned down at the impressive amount of stir fry on his plate, still as pleased with himself for making Harry laugh as he'd always been. There was just something about his joy that seemed so genuine and infectuous that being the source of it felt a bit like a privilege. Or something.  
  
"Shall we leave right after breakfast?" Ed asked, since their earlier conversation could hardly even be called that and wasn't worth pursuing further. Harry did a half shrug half nod thing.  
  
"Sure. It’ll be noon by then anyway."  
  
Ed sighed contently.  
  
"Days off are great."  
  
"Speaking of, do you have a curfew today?" Harry asked. Ed grinned over at him a little mischievously and shook his head.  
  
"Nah. And anyway, even when I do exceptions can be made. Why, do you have after-party plans?"  
  
“M-hm," Harry hummed, wicked smile of his own on his lips, looking up through his lashes in a very practised move. "Private ones."  
  
Ed bit down on a smirk of his own.  
  
"Then I definitely don't have a curfew," he said, earning a laugh.  
  
“You’re quite easy for it, aren’t you, love,” Harry teased. Ed snorted in amusement and raised an eyebrow at him.  
  
“Pot, kettle.”  
  
“Never said I wasn’t just as easy,” Harry said in a sing-song kind of voice. It wasn’t really all that different than any kind of conversation, if one could call it that, they’d have over text or over the phone when they weren’t together but there was something about doing it with Harry here, opposite him at the breakfast table, in soft worn joggers and a comfy knit jumper. Ed’s desire to prod and poke at Harry, to tease him, was almost completely overtaken by a soft, bubbly happiness from just being in his presence. There were probably a dozen songs in just this moment; the pale green of Harry’s eyes and the softness of his skin and smile. The thought that maybe some day soon Ed was going to actually write one of those songs and everyone would know who it was about brought a flush to his cheeks, so before it could become visible and Harry would start asking uncomfortable questions, Ed reached for his orange juice, ducking his head a bit more than completely necessary. Harry either didn’t notice or didn’t comment.  
  
All throughout breakfast Ed felt a bit as if in a daze. Harry’s foot came forward to rest against his at some point, socked ankle to socked ankle, and it was both incredibly endearing and terribly sexy. Ed wasn’t sure if he wanted to drag Harry off to the bedroom and not let him wear clothes for the foreseeable future or cuddle up to him and promise him the world anymore. He felt disgustingly, full up in love today. Not that he didn’t usually, there was just something about this day that made him feel giddy with it. Like if he opened his mouth all that would come spewing out would be pink, sparkly goo. Or the word vomit equivalent of it anyway.  
  
Harry felt it too, if the way he kept smiling at Ed and then looking away or ducking his head or pretending to have been petting Graham all along was any indication. It left them both grinning like idiots and giggling at even the worst jokes. When Ed finally checked the time again and then made for the stairs to get changed, Harry caught him in his long arms instead and wrapped them around Ed’s waist to give him a kiss.  
  
“We’re going to be late if we don’t leave soon,” Ed mumbled, hands holding on to Harry’s wrists behind his back. He’d meant to peel Harry’s hands off him, really, but now that he was holding on to his warm skin he didn’t really... want to.  
  
Harry only hummed pleasantly and swayed gently from side to side, pulling him into another slow kiss.  
  
“Alright. Go on then,” he said when he pulled back and let go of Ed. Ed laced their fingers together and only dropped Harry’s hands when he’d taken a step back and their arms were stretched between them. Harry grinned and shook his head at their antics. Yeah. Seemed about right.  
  
“I’ll take care of the dishes and fill up Gray’s food for the day,” Harry said. “Go.”  
  
It was only when Harry came to join him upstairs, to brush his teeth and swap Ed’s joggers for his own jeans for the drive back to Harry’s place that Ed thought maybe it was because they were going out together that they were so giddy. They had been looking forward to something like this for a while now. Harry shook out their pillows and the duvet, straightening the bed while Ed pulled on a dark blue pair of not-quite-skinny jeans and the red-blue-white checked shirt Taylor had sent over for his birthday. There were very few people in the world who he’d let add to his wardrobe without feeling at least a little bit insulted, but she was definitely one of them. Harry watched him with a soft smile and downstairs helped him into his coat and smoothed it down over his shoulders and front, probably more to touch than anything else.  
  
“You’re gorgeous,” he murmured and let Ed kiss him again.  
  
“Thank you,” Ed said primly and then drew back. If they wanted to make it in time, they really had to leave now. Knowing Harry, getting ready would not be a simple matter of putting on some clothes for him.  
  
“Now let’s go so you can make yourself presentable enough so I can be seen with you,” Ed added. Harry rolled his eyes good-naturedly, but reached into his pockets to check he had everything and then into the pockets of the coat now hanging off Ed’s shoulders for his car keys.  
  
“Are you trying to feel me up?” Ed asked, putting on a scandalised expression. Harry waggled his eyebrows at him and gave him a good grope through the coat, probably just because Ed had brought it up. Though with Harry it was always difficult to tell.  
  
“I’m always trying to feel you up,” Harry said, pulling the car keys from the depth of a pocket and then holding the door open. Ed sighed heavily and patted his cheek, passing him by.  
  
“It’s alright, darling. I know you can’t help yourself.”  
  
“Not around you, I can’t,” Harry murmured, pulling the door shut behind them and crowding up close behind Ed. Ed grinned and squeezed Harry’s hand when he stepped up next to him, only dropping it so he could round the car and climb in on the other side.  
  
The drive to Harry’s place was easy; they both knew the route by heart by now and passed the time with occasional conversation, Ed’s hand resting high on Harry’s thigh and the radio on in the background.  
  
“Decided what you’re going to wear yet?” Ed asked when Harry unlocked his front door.  
  
“Not entirely,” Harry said, dropping his keys on the little sideboard in the foyer and then making for the stairs. “You coming up?”  
  
“Yeah, sure,” Ed said, slipping off the coat. “Did you think I was just going to hang out by your front door?”  
  
“You never know,” Harry said with a grin, before taking the stairs two at a time. Ed rolled his eyes at him, but hung up the coat before following him upstairs. When he joined Harry in his bedroom, he was peeling off his jeans and swapping them for what was, as far as Ed could tell, an identical pair of black jeans. He wasn’t about to comment.  
  
“Can you see if there’s a green suede coat in my closet?” Harry asked.  
  
“What’s suede?” Ed asked back, but made for Harry’s en suite walk in closet anyway. It was more of a little storage room but one long wall was occupied entirely by closet space and the opposite wall by a shoe rack. There was a floor length mirror on the wall in between them. Ed felt a bit like he’d stepped into a movie set every time he was in here.  
  
There was only one green coat and Ed reached for it even as Harry explained from the other room.  
  
“’s a type of leather.”  
  
“So why not just call it leather?” Ed asked, stepping back into the bed room and holding up the coat. It did feel buttery soft, he had to give it that.  
  
“Cause it’s not the same thing,” Harry said with a grin, fastening the buckle of his belt and motioning towards the bed with his head. Ed dropped the coat on it and then laid down on it himself, spreading out and tilting his head so he could watch Harry disappear into the en suite bathroom. The master bedroom in his house really was the master bedroom. It even had a little roof top terrace.  
  
“We should call a taxi,” Ed said. “Parking’ll be hell anyway.”  
  
Harry was rummaging through his shelf in the bathroom as far as Ed could tell from the noise.  
  
“Yeah, good idea. Call for one?” Harry said and then, with a smile over his shoulder at Ed, plugged in the hair dryer and pushed the door shut against the noise of it. Ed called for the car and then closed his eyes and let the sounds from through the door lull him into a bit of a doze. After a while the hair dryer shut off and Harry bustled past him into the closet, humming softly to himself. Ed felt his lips quirk into a smile, but kept his eyes closed until Harry tapped him on the knee.  
  
Ed fluttered his eyes open just to see him slip on the green coat on top of a black t-shirt and a dark grey loose knit jumper. The neck line was either very wide or very stretched out (or both) and fell below even his t-shirt’s neckline. He looked put together and gorgeous and yet the smile on his face as he looked down at Ed was so familiar he didn’t see any of the pop star in him; just Harry.  
  
Well. Probably because Harry the Pop Star was just as much in love with Ed as Harry the Idiot From A Tiny Village In Cheshire.  
  
Ed knew the feeling. He smiled back.  
  
“Ready?” Ed asked and pushed up onto his elbows.  
  
“Yeah. Let’s go,” Harry said, holding out a hand to help Ed up. Harry had one of those high box spring beds so it wasn’t all the difficult to get up from it, but Ed wasn’t going to turn down his hand either. He followed him down the stairs and then let Harry help him into his coat once more. The taxi pulled up at the side walk just as Harry was locking the door. Perfect timing, really.  
  
The taxi driver kept shooting them what he probably thought were subtle considering looks via the rear view mirror, prompting Harry and Ed to grin at each other out of the corner of their eyes every now and then. When they arrived at their destination Harry made a production out of reaching his hand inside the cab to help Ed climb out of it and didn’t let go of Ed’s hand while they stood on the side walk, gathering their wits for a moment before entering the lion’s den.  
  
“You sure about this?” Harry asked. Ed rolled his eyes.  
  
“Of course I’m sure. You’re not going to snog my face off in front of a bajillion paparazzi, are you?”  
  
Harry chuckled.  
  
“Of course not. I know you’re not into PDA.”  
  
Ed shrugged.  
  
“Just don’t want to be a spectacle for anyone else’s entertainment,” he said.  
  
“I’m afraid you’re in the wrong line of business then, love,” Harry said with a grin. Ed rolled his eyes.  
  
“You know what I meant.”  
  
“Yeah, I do,” Harry said with a soft smile and pressed a quick peck to Ed lips before pulling back. His cheeks were maybe just a touch rosier than usual. Ed’s skin was absolutely unforgiving when it came to blushes but truthfully Harry wasn’t much better; he just wore them better.  
  
“Off we go then,” Ed said. He’d wondered briefly at the complete lack of photographers at the entrance of the grounds but once they got to where the official reception area had been set up it made sense. Since everyone had to use the same entrance to the show room hall thing, the paparazzi were camped out here instead of spread out along the perimeter where they weren’t guaranteed to get the pictures they wanted.  
  
Predictably, flashes went off instantly when people recognised Harry, and Ed had to turn his face away for a second to get his grin under control. Harry grinned down at him and then held out an arm, beckoning for him to step up next to him and slung the arm casually around his waist, pulling him in against his side when he did.  
  
It felt like the world held its breath with Ed for a second before the flashes went off even madder than before. Even though this was probably not enough to get anyone speculating seriously, Ed had never turned up at one of these before and Harry had certainly never held him so proprietarily in public either. The photographers and few reporters all started shouting questions at them, trying to be heard over each other.  
  
“Harry, why’d you not bring a date instead?” one of them shouted, a wolfish grin on his face.  
  
“I did,” Harry called back, face smooth and amused like he wasn’t at all fazed by the admission. “Well, technically he brought me.”  
  
There was another one of those calm-before-the-storm-moments before the flashes came back on like a storm and the shouting became a practically indiscernible wall of noise. Harry stood still for another few seconds and then gently steered Ed away towards the entrance, dropping his arm after a few steps.  
  
“I feel a bit bad,” he said.  
  
“For?” Ed asked, his heart still hammering a bit quickly with what had just happened.  
  
“Stealing the show,” Harry said. His eyes were twinkling happily though and Ed laughed.  
  
“You do anyway,” he said before he could think better of it and felt himself flush when Harry laughed delightedly and then kissed him on the cheek.  
  
Inside most people were polite enough not to shout in their faces at how close they seemed, though a few that Harry seemed to know at least semi well made veiled inquiries with politely intrigued eyebrows. They stuck to vague answers, telling people they’d been seeing each other for a while (if two plus years could be adequately described as ‘a while’) and kept it casual for a bit (only the first few months) but were committed to each other now and bored of hiding it (they were). Ed was about as bored as he’d assumed he’d be, this type of socialising wasn’t really his style, but contributed to the small talk as much as he could.  
  
But when they sat down in the front row, Harry beamed at him and put his hand on Ed’s thigh the way he had so many times but never in a setting quite like this before. So Ed broke his own rule and leaned in for a quick, chaste kiss.  
  
“Oh?” Harry asked, lips quirked into a smug grin.  
  
“Don’t get used to it,” Ed said, kissed Harry again and then settled into his own seat, turning back to the front when the music came on and the room darkened, leaving only the runway illuminated. Harry squeezed his thigh gently but then turned forward himself.  
  
It took a bit of time before the erratic beating of Ed’s heart had calmed down and he no longer felt like all eyes in the room where on them instead of the models they should be watching. There wasn’t any whispering around them, even though Harry’s hand stayed on his leg for the duration of the show and somehow Ed was almost glad they’d gone with a posh event like this one as their first public outing as a couple. No one here really wanted to cause a scene or anything. It was all very calm and collected. Even the applause at the end of the show – though happy and enthusiastic – was polite and well-mannered.  
  
“Imagine if that’s how people reacted to pop concerts,” he leaned over to Harry to whisper, earning himself a soft chuckle.  
  
“You want to stay or make our way out?” Harry asked when the lights came back on and people started spreading out, vaguely ambling towards the exits. Ed shot him an unimpressed look.  
  
“I’m glad you were having fun, but this is not my kind of party,” he said. Harry grinned and stepped away from his seat then.  
  
“Home it is,” he said, steering Ed through the crowd with a hand on his back. They had to stop a few times for Harry to chit chat to people, but he did turn down every single invitation and it wasn’t too long before they were back outside. Ed took a deep breath, not having realised how stifling the air had felt inside before they stepped back out into the crispness of February.  
  
“Hang on a second,” he said when Harry made for the stairs and snapped a quick photo of the logo mounted on the wall, pulling up his twitter app. He typed out a few words and angled the screen for Harry to see before he attached the photo and hit the send button.  
  
“I love you too,” Harry murmured close to his face and gave it an affectionate nuzzle before pulling back.  
  
“Now, I believe you said something about dinner and a private party you’d planned...?” Ed said, dropping his phone back into the pocket of his coat. Harry grinned wickedly.  
  
“I did, didn’t I,” he said and tangled his fingers with Ed’s. “Let’s sneak around back. There’re enough pictures of us for the day.”  
  
“I like the way you think,” Ed said and let Harry pull him along behind him when he suddenly set off into a run, laughing loudly and flying down the stairs and feeling just a bit like he was truly walking on air.  
  
  


 

 

**The End**


End file.
